LAUSANNE (AFP) - The world governing body for athletics has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a decision to exonerate sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou for allegedly dodging a drugs test.

CAS said yesterday that the IAAF has asked it to rule whether the athletes had violated anti-doping regulations and should face a minimum two-year ban. Kenteris, 31, and Thanou, 30, won gold and silver medals, respectively, at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

But they fell from grace almost overnight on the eve of the Athens Games, when they disappeared from the Olympic Village shortly before officials arrived to take doping tests. Hours later, they checked into an Athens hospital after allegedly falling from a motorcycle they had borrowed to race back to the village. A Greek prosecutor has charged them with faking the crash.

The Greek athletics federation (SEGAS) in March cleared the athletes of violating doping regulations. Both Kenteris and Thanou have protested their innocence.

CAS, whose decision is final, said it would rule within four months.